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ATTENTION: Windows 10 users

Beta 2 build is now available!

If you just upgraded to Windows 10 or running build 10240 or greater of Win 10 pre-release you will need to download and install the new version of ZoneAlarm 14.0.157.000

ZA crashes other programs on launch when it has exited

Here's the steps to reproduce.
1. ZA auto starts with the computer.
2. Right click ZoneAlarm in the System Tray and click Exit
3. Launch a program such as notepad - the program will crash immediately on startup.
4. Start ZoneAlarm again and the problem goes away, you'll be able to launch programs just fine.

Re: ZA crashes other programs on launch when it has exited

No, cannot replicate here but I am on a retail version of ZA and on windows 7. To exclude some weird interactions with other applications running you should try to boot your system only with standard OS software/services and ZA. This way:

1.) Click Start -> Run
2.) Type MSConfig in the run box and click OK
3.) Once in MSConfig, click the Startup Tab
4.) Remove the checks from everything except zatray and forcefield
5.) Click the Services Tab
6.) Place a check in "Hide All Microsoft Services"
7.) Now remove checks from everything other than TrueVector Internet
Monitor and ForceField, and click OK.
8.) Restart your computer

Now try to replicate the issue. Still problems?

NOTE: You can place your computer back into a normal startup process by going back into msconfig and choosing the Normal Startup option on the General tab.

Re: ZA crashes other programs on launch when it has exited

I got this problem with ZA free and Win XP.
Clicked exit from ZA tray.
Chose Start/Turn off computer.
Had to cancel windows crash reporter a dozen times or more before it got to "Saving your settings" which it never completed and I had to pull the plug.

Re: ZA crashes other programs on launch when it has exited

Originally Posted by colinwray

I got this problem with ZA free and Win XP.
Clicked exit from ZA tray.
Chose Start/Turn off computer.
Had to cancel windows crash reporter a dozen times or more before it got to "Saving your settings" which it never completed and I had to pull the plug.

Yeah I noticed the same thing. Although I think (I should probably check this) I didn't have to exit ZA before shutdown to see this problem. I think ZA gets ended by the OS at some point during shutdown that triggers this problem. Either way, it was winlogon.exe (or something similar, I can't quite remember) that was crashing. After about a dozen or so "don't sends" of the crash report my computer did eventually shutdown without me needing to force it.

As an aside, the only reason I have discovered this problem is because when I am streaming/downloading at a reasonable speed, say around 2Mbps+ vsmon.exe just hogs my CPU, hence why I stopped ZA, albeit defeating the purpose of a firewall. Granted, it is an old single core 2GHz Celeron (Pentium M 760) but I still don't think vsmon should be that CPU-hungry. I know it's a problem others have had but I'm not aware of a solution.

Originally Posted by fax

...you should try to boot your system only with standard OS software/services and ZA. This way...

Coming back to fax's instructions I found something a little interesting. I only got up to step 4 and then spotted that I don't have an entry for forcefield. Though I did have a blank entry. I took a look at the run folder in regeditor to find it was named "ISW". A quick Google seems to indicate that is ZoneAlarm's IE browser sandbox (I think). I don't run IE normally and wouldn't have the toolbar on anyway, but ISWSVC.exe is running, as it is a service that is started automatically. A bit annoying. Anyway, I doubt that is the cause of the problem. I've since uninstalled the toolbar completely, but iswsvc.exe is still running, so perhaps I need a restart.

Anyway, will try and spend a little time on this tonight if I get the chance. Thanks for the responses so far.

Re: ZA crashes other programs on launch when it has exited

Originally Posted by sparky132

. I only got up to step 4 and then spotted that I don't have an entry for forcefield.

What you describe is typically happening (hanging of PC) when the OS does not let ZA to quit. This is normally depending on other software installed (conflicts) or corrupted OS installs. The empty line points to an incorrect installation of ZA. What you should not see however is the forcefield and ISW processes running (when identity protection is turned OFF). Identity protection (phishing, and site check) will work regardless of the toolbar (phishing, and site check) this is why you may see a forcefield process in the taskback (unless you disabled the identity protection).

If you are able to, you should fully remove ZA, run the removal tool, remove manually any checkpoint folder in the system (if there). Disable any security, imaging, boot protection, etc. Reinstall ZA. Check it works correctly (no empty entries in startup, etc). Only then start doing tests with selective startup (MSCONFIG).